Had a bit of a crazy day with raptors in need of rescue. First off was report of a bird collision on Lexington Ave. and 58th St. Turns out a juvy redtailed hawk had collided with the glass exterior of the Bloomberg Building
and was sitting dazed on a 6th floor terrace. I arrived just to see the bird compose itself and fly off towards 59th st. I was able to track the bird and gained entry to the exposed staircase it had perched, 1 block away.
Carefully approaching from the rear, my plan was grab both legs simultaneosly. Amazingly the hawk gave up without a fight.
It was clearly very emaciated and possibly suffering from frounce. I bundled her up in a box and jumped in a cab towards
AMC and let the Horvaths know they had a new charge. Later that day word of a young kestrel on Madison and 95th st came in. I hoofed it over there and sure enough a not-quite-flighted kestrel was in a playground on 95th st. A concerned woman had called around and eventually gotten the Audubon Society, who contacted me. During the time of waiting, she said a strange man tried to take the bird, but they warded him off. She also said that she had spoke to the Wild Bird Fund who told her to just leave it be and that it would be ok. While I can understand why they may have said this to someone totally unfamiliar with handling birds, it is actually false. Due to the presence of 1)strange people 2)feral cats 3)off-leash dogs and 4)rats, unflighted birds really dont have much of a chance if left on the ground in an urban environment. I explained this to the concerned group and set about catching the little guy.
Basically I laid on my stomach and slowly, with an outstreched hand, caught the kestrels legs between my fingers. He was not at all happy about it and let out his sharp cry. Upon hearing that, some of the park goes reported hearing that same call throughout the day nearby. I put the kestrel in a box and set out to find the scrape. I had guessed that two previous kestrels from this area were also part of the same nest, but I was unable to find any definitive markings of a nest. The building right across from the park that was undergoing renovations seemed the most likely candidate, but I will have to return to the site to be sure...who knows there may be another one in there! Till then both are receiving the
best care possible...hopefully they will be releasable in a few weeks.
So Super calls 311. 311 puts them in touch with Animal Control. Animal Control puts them in touch with Audubon Society. Audubon Society sends out an email asking for volunteers to try to assist with the bird. Since its not on a Park, the Rangers or Park Police cant officially respond. Animal Control is not equipped to handle raptor rescues because the require a good deal of training and experience. Each rescue is different and they are all a unique combination of planning and improvisation. For example, I did this rescue in the dark to keep the bird from seeing my hands reach for it. I never tried this technique before but it worked perfectly.
This is what that looked like. So after inspection I realize the bird is completely unharmed and had no signs of frounce or other parasites. Given its hungry and ferocious state, I decided it was best to go up to the roof and release this healthy bird.
Before we released it, I scanned the area for how it could have ended up down in the basement. On the top of the roof, I found the answer.
From the previous pic you can see he was waiting to foot me as I reached into the box. So instead, I gently turned the box over to slide him out. He got the message and bolted from the roof!
As soon as he got near MSG, a peregrine falcon attacked!
The bird easily defended itself and then carried on toward the South East. Special shout out to Tim the Super...without him the hawk would have met his fate with the other starlings in the basement.
